Today in History December 4

Juliette Recamier was only child of the King’s counsellor and his wife Julie Mattan. Beautiful and educated, she became a bride at aged fifteen to a banker 30 years her senior and became a socialite, whose salon drew Parisians from the political and literary circles of the early 19th century. Rumors arose her natural father had married her to make her his heir. This was at the height of the revolutionary terror and, if he lost his head, she would inherit his money. Some biographers give credence to this theory, but it remains unproven.

771 – Austrasian king Carloman I dies, leaving his brother Charlemagne king of the now complete Frankish Kingdom.
1259 – Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy) in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.
1619 – Thirty-eight colonists arrive at Berkeley Hundred, Virginia. The group’s charter proclaims that the day “be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.”
1783 – At Fraunces Tavern, General George Washington bids farewell to his officers.
1791 – The first edition of The Observer, the world’s first Sunday newspaper, is published.
1861 – The 109 Electors of the several states of the Confederate States of America unanimously elect Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President.
1865 – North Carolina ratifies 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, followed soon by Georgia, and U.S. slaves were legally free within 2 weeks
1872 – The crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found by the Canadian brig Dei Gratia. The ship had been abandoned for nine days but was only slightly damaged.
1875 – New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison; he is later recaptured in Spain.
1918 – President Woodrow Wilson sails for the World War I peace talks in Versailles, becoming the first US president to travel to Europe while in office.
1943 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt closes down the Works Progress Administration, because of the high levels of wartime employment in the United States.
1954 – The first Burger King is opened in Miami, Florida.

Henri Matisse Le Bateau 1953. Courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.( right side up)

1961 – Museum of Modern Art hangs Matisse’s Le Bateau upside down for 47 days
1965 – Launch of Gemini 7 with crew members Frank Borman and Jim Lovell. The Gemini 7 spacecraft was the passive target for the first crewed space rendezvous performed by the crew of Gemini 6A.
1969 – Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed during a raid by 14 Chicago police officers
1978 – Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco’s first female mayor.
1991 – Terry A. Anderson is released after seven years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut; he is the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.
1991 – Pan American World Airways ceases its operations after 64 years.
2006 – An adult giant squid is caught on video by Kubodera near the Ogasawara Islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo.